L.L. 2008/035

Enactment date: 8/12/2008

Int. No. 777

By Council Members Gennaro, Comrie, Felder, White Jr., Yassky, James, Liu, Nelson, Seabrook, Stewart, Gerson, Garodnick, Weprin and the Speaker (Council Member Quinn)

A Local Law to amend the New York city charter and the administrative code of the city of New York, in relation to the consolidation of the environmental control board with the office of administrative trials and hearings and replacing the commissioner of consumer affairs with the chief administrative law judge of the office of administrative trials and hearings on the environmental control board and making other changes related thereto.

Be it enacted by the Council as follows:

Section 1. Declaration of legislative findings and intent. The Council finds and declares that the environmental control board is an administrative tribunal that annually processes over 700,000 notices of violation and conducts over 175,000 hearings; that for many individuals who appear before the board, a board hearing represents one of such individuals' most significant direct interactions with governmental authority; that more efficient board procedures would enhance fair enforcement of the city's laws; that significant improvements in the board's hearing procedures and practices for handling notices of violation can be made, especially through more widespread and effective use of technology, which holds considerable promise for simplifying the hearing process; that the office of administrative trials and hearings is the city's central administrative tribunal and has the greatest institutional expertise of any city agency in administrative tribunal management; and that consolidation of the environmental control board with the office of administrative trials and hearings, as provided for herein, will establish the management structure that will best serve to increase the efficiency, fairness and professionalism of the environmental control board's hearing processes.

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[Consolidated provisions are not included in this Appendix A]

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§ 9. Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 1048 and 1049 of the New York city charter, the environmental control board shall exercise all the functions, powers and duties set forth in section 1049-a of the New York city charter and hearing officers of the environmental control board shall not be subject to the provision of section 1049 that requires administrative law judges in the office of administrative trials and hearings to be appointed for a term of five years.

§ 10. No existing right or remedy of the city of any character shall be lost, impaired or affected by reason of the adoption of this local law.

§ 11. No action or proceeding, administrative, civil or criminal, pending at the time when this local law shall take effect, brought by or against the city or any agency or officer of the city, shall be affected or abated by the adoption of this local law or by anything contained herein.

§ 12. Whenever pursuant to any provision of this local law functions, powers or duties are assigned to officers or employees of the environmental control board in the office of administrative trials and hearings that were exercised by any officer or employee of the environmental control board in the department of environmental protection, all such officers or employees in the classified city civil service who were engaged in the performance of such functions, powers or duties shall be transferred to the environmental control board in the office of administrative trials and hearings, without further examination or qualification, in accordance with section 70 of the civil service law. Provided, however, that officers or employees who are subject to pending disciplinary charges on the date of the functional transfer, or against whom a disciplinary penalty has been assessed but not yet served or paid on or prior to such date, may be retained in the employment of the department of environmental protection until the resolution of the adjudicative or administrative proceedings and until any outstanding disciplinary penalty has been served or paid.

§ 13. This local law shall take effect thirty days after it shall have become a law, or as soon as practicable thereafter as a transfer of functions may be effectuated pursuant to subdivision 2 of section 70 of the civil service law; provided, however, that any rules or regulations required to be promulgated pursuant to subdivision b-1 of section 1049-a of the New York city charter, as added by section two of this local law, shall be promulgated no later than one hundred eighty days after the effective date of this local law.